Hototogisu kiki mo wakarenu hitokoe ni yomo no sora o mo nagametsuru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

時鳥聞きも分かれぬ一声に
四方の空をもながめつるかな

Roma-ji: Hototogisu kiki mo wakarenu hitokoe ni yomo no sora o mo nagametsuru kana
English Translation: At the cuckoo's call,
a single cry I could not trace
to any quarter,
I found myself gazing out
at the sky on every side
Meaning: Because of the cuckoo's single cry, which I could not trace to any direction, I found myself gazing at the sky on every side.
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 164

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem on the cuckoo"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed on the topic of "the cuckoo." The cuckoo cried just once, but because the poet could not tell from which direction, he found himself looking around at the sky on every side. The figure of a man whose heart is seized by a single cry, scanning the whole sky, shows how eagerly he had waited for the cuckoo's song.
The author, "Former Inspector of the Left Gate Guards Kinmitsu," is Fujiwara no Kinmitsu; the character for "gate guards" in this text's title is thought to be a miswriting. Son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Suenari, he served as Provisional Middle Counselor and Inspector of the Left Gate Guards but was later dismissed from office.

First line, "hototogisu": names the subject, the cuckoo.
Second line, "kiki mo wakarenu": "wakare" means to be able to distinguish, and "nu" is the attributive of the negative "zu": "that I cannot place by ear."
Third line, "hitokoe ni": "because of a single cry." Together with "yowa no hitokoe" in 155 and "hitokoe wa" in 159 of this book, it treats the cuckoo's single call.
Fourth line, "yomo no sora o mo": "yomo" means all four directions.
Fifth line, "nagametsuru kana": "tsuru" is the attributive of the perfective "tsu" and "kana" exclamatory. Where 161 of this book gazed toward where the bird sang and saw the moon, this poem, unable to tell the direction, looks out on every side.
Author: Fujiwara no Kinmitsu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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